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Pit bulls as metaphor; Portland recall: Opinion roundup

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This undated image made from video provided by the Arlington (Texas) Police Department shows Sgt. Gary Carter with the pit bull he rescued. On June 27, Carter was summoned to the scene of a dog chasing residents, but he and another officer took time to observe the dog’s behavior and determined that it was just thirsty, lost and afraid. On July 10, with time running out for the dog before euthanasia, Carter rescued “Jeffrey” and adopted him.
(AP Photo/Arlington Police Department)

Like pit bulls? Fear them? Check out a lengthy piece in Esquire by Tim Junod, a pit bull owner who argues that the breed "has become the only American dog, because it is the only American dog that has become an American metaphor – and the only American dog that people bother to name. When a cocker spaniel bites, it does so as a member of its species; it is never anything but a dog. When a pit bull bites, it does so as a member of its breed." There are also a lot of dog pictures.

The Los Angeles Times, meanwhile, praises city officials for "budgeting no across-the-board raises for workers this year while the city tries to eliminate by 2018 an ongoing deficit that has sapped money for street and sidewalk repair and other improvements." Employee unions are applying pressure to change this, writes the Times, which urges city councilors to remember "how generous pay raises before the recession proved too expensive and thousands of jobs had to be cut to help avoid bankruptcy."

Writing in the journal of the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, San Diego attorney Michael Rosen discusses the inevitable outcome of the battle between ride-sharing services like Uber and legacy taxicabs. The fight, he says, "largely mirrors the age-old war over productivity or, on might say, labor vs. capital. This war only ever has one outcome, even if the fighting rages on for years, and that outcome never favors the side forced to claim 'it's not that we're against technology.'"

The San Jose Mercury News writes with near incredulity about the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, which "laboratory has been rocked by revelations of scientists' sloppy handling of anthrax and an extremely dangerous strain of the deadly bird flu." Among "its many functions," the paper notes, is setting "safety and security standards for dealing with dangerous pathogens."

In today's edition of The Oregonian, the editorial board argues that Portland City Council should kill the city's flawed arts tax itself. A second editorial explains why recall is not an appropriate response to dissatisfaction many people might have with Portland Mayor Charlie Hales and Commissioner Steve Novick. Finally, contributing columnist Tim Nesbitt discusses proposed changes to Oregon's partisan primary system. These can be found on our blog, The Stump.